The Los Angeles Dodgers have noted since the start of Spring Training how much more confident and comfortable Yoshinobu Yamamoto appeared for his second season with the team.
Yamamoto’s rookie year and first taste of Major League Baseball yielded positive results but also growing pains as well. The right-hander made it a goal to remain healthy in 2025, and the Dodgers intended to rely on Yamamoto as one of multiple aces.
Now nearly two months through the regular season, Yamamoto has essentially been the only constant in the Dodgers’ rotation. Roberts declared him arguably the best pitcher in the National League and among MLB’s few staff aces.
“I do use that word very carefully, cautiously, because there’s a lot that comes with that,” Roberts said after the Dodgers’ walk-off win in extra innings on Tuesday night.
“Certainly, track record, the ability to go deep in games when you need it, to handle left and right. There’s very few in the big leagues. I just see a confident player. Even that Pavin Smith at-bat, when he got over 100 pitches, he wanted that last hitter. I like looking at guys and trusting the guy that is on the mound.”
The situation Roberts specifically highlighted was a tenuous one at Dodger Stadium.
His club was clinging to a 1-0 lead over the Arizona Diamondbacks and Yamamoto had just walked a batter to put runners at the corners with two outs in the seventh inning. That came a handful of minutes after losing a no-hitter when Ketel Marte led off with a single and advanced into scoring position on a wild pitch.
Alex Vesia was warming up as Yamamoto faced Gabriel Moreno and the left-handed hitting Smith loomed on deck. But Roberts remained seated in the dugout after Moreno’s walk, and Yamamoto rewarded his manager’s trust by escaping the jam with a strikeout.
“I just felt right there in that moment, he was our best option,” Roberts explained of keeping Yamamoto in the game rather than calling on Vesia. “It’s not about pitch count, it’s not about third time through.
“It’s about he’s our best option, and I felt where our club is at right now, we need to give him the chance to get out of that inning. He proved all of us right.”
Yoshinobu Yamamoto’s no-hit bid
While the Dodgers were failing to provide much run support, Yamamoto was carving his way through the Diamondbacks lineup. It was the type of performance Roberts sensed was coming given both the team’s need to snap a losing streak and Yamamoto’s capabilities.
“I think honestly what I’ve learned from him over almost the last year and a half, I just see a guy that works very intentional. He’s really confident in his ability,” Roberts said.
“I think the success that he’s had has given him more conviction to execute pitches, to get ahead. I think there was a little bit of mechanically out of sync and just missing in the last couple starts before this one. Where I think tonight, Mark and the pitching guys cleaned some stuff up.
“He was dialed in from the first pitch. Wasn’t stressed at all, stayed in his throw, I thought everything was consistent all night. That takes time to build that trust.”
For his part, Yamamoto was not necessarily eyeing putting the finishing touches on a no-hitter.
“Completing a full nine innings is really hard and my pitch count was going up,” he said through interpreter Yoshihiro Sonoda. “So I wasn’t really thinking about it.”
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